Top Clinton aide to face Hill grilling before Benghazi panel

Huma Abedin is the only aide known to have an email account on Clinton's personal network. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Huma Abedin, a top aide to Hillary Clinton, is set to appear before the House Select Committee on Benghazi Friday, a committee source confirmed.

Abedin's appearance comes amid heightened scrutiny of the committee's investigation, with Democrats accusing Republicans of using the panel to damage Clinton's presidential campaign. Republicans have noted that the committee uncovered a significant trove of information about Benghazi that was not previously known, including the fact that Clinton shielded all her communications about the attack on a private server in her basement.

Abedin, who served as Clinton's deputy chief of staff at State and is presently the highest-paid member of her campaign team, was slated to appear before the committee in August, but her interview was delayed after the State Department failed to provide documents beforehand.

Democrats on the Benghazi committee have pushed the majority to release the transcripts of closed-door interviews with witnesses, but Chairman Trey Gowdy has resisted, arguing the release of the transcripts might discourage future witnesses from being candid with investigators.

The minority members threatened last week to publish the transcript of an interview with Cheryl Mills, Clinton's former chief of staff, but have yet to do so this week.

Emails transmitted by Abedin have been marked classified by the State Department this year, raising questions about how the top aide handled sensitive information at the agency.

Abedin is the only aide known to have an email account on Clinton's personal network, although more are suspected to have had accounts.

The committee will primarily ask Abedin about the State Department's handling of the 2012 terror attack in Benghazi. The private email network is also likely to be a topic of discussion, as the server enabled Clinton to conceal key records about Libya from the government for more than two years after the attack.

Last week, Gowdy indicated the panel had uncovered emails from an informal Clinton adviser, Sidney Blumenthal, that suggested he had successfully lobbied Clinton to vouch for his company before the government of Libya. Other records cited by Gowdy contained the identity of a CIA source, which Clinton then forwarded to her staff in what some have called a breach of security policy.